Word: scottishly
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...makers of the much-heralded "Trainspotting," who give us a rock'n'roll video of a movie whose wall-to-wall brogues and stretches of humor gloriously fall short of hopes for relentlessly hip status. It may look neat for a while--we've all been waiting for the Scottish "Kids," haven't we?--but the tiresome unreality of its "brutal reality" becomes maddening as the film's soundtrack pounds...
...director Danny Boyle just seems gleefully to forget any seriousness about one quarter of the way through the film. There are points where you hope for some witty Scottish version of the classic "Drugstore Cowboy," as Renton talks lyrically just like Matt Dillon did of his devotion to drugs...
...mother wit covers a multitude of crimes; a boyish charm can sell anything; vitality overwhelms prim moral compunctions. All three apply to Trainspotting, the Scottish comedy-horror show made for a Scots-thrifty $2.5 million. The wit is in the film's dialogue; it exhilarates even as it horrifies. The charm pours from Ewan McGregor's star-making turn as Renton. And the verve--that's director Danny Boyle's triumph...
...hurtles down the street as store detectives chase after him, Iggy Pop's Lust for Life hammers the sound track, and Renton delivers his "Choose life" speech--the film is a nonstop visual and aural assault. Slo-mo, fast-mo, a hallucinogenic editing pace and the thick music of Scottish accents mean that you'll have to cram for Trainspotting. Attention must be paid, and will be rewarded with the scabrous savor of the movie's lightning intelligence. The subject is heroin, but the style is speed. This film is an upper--a jolt of pure movie energy...
...Sick Boy obsesses over the career of Sean Connery, is the son of actor Bernard Lee--"M" in 11 Bond films. Producer Andrew MacDonald is the grandson of auteur Emeric Pressburger (The Red Shoes). And McGregor is the nephew of Denis Lawson, a deliciously droll, comic actor in Scottish movies (Local Hero) and West End musicals (Mr. Cinders). Young Ewan, the son of teachers, got the itch to act from Lawson. "I was brought up in Crieff, a small, conservative town," McGregor says, "and he had long hair, beads and a furry waistcoat. I aspired to be as different...